When Rivers Rage and Rocks Grow Cold
by thatgirlbb
Summary: This story is on a permanent hiatus as I am rewriting it. Update soon!
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The canopy of the bed held no secrets. Its heavy brocade much as the solid wooden furniture had been made for eternity and therefore remained unfazed by insignificant events such as death. Yet it was a safe spot to look at, Harry decided, precisely because it gave nothing away about the room's former inhabitant. Unlike the room, the muggle posters had withstood the test of time, because of the permanent sticking charm a rebellious teenager had once used to drive his mother insane. Well done at that, Harry thought glumly.

Everything about the room reeked of misery and claustrophobia - and Harry knew a little something about claustrophobia - from the unmade bed to the half empty bottle of Scotch collecting dust. He had not allowed anyone to clean in here or change anything about the way his godfather had left it - the way _Sirius_ had left it, Harry reminded himself. It was no use trying to avoid the name and it was definitely no good lying here staring at the canopy.

With a sigh he got up and rubbed his aching back; lying still for a long time hurts.

He was about to move toward the door and brave the day when a movement caught his eye. His gaze turned toward the mess on the desk.

Among a bundle of documents there was an old photograph. Harry hesitated, not sure he was ready to look at old pictures of his godfather. However, something about that singular picture among a pile of old correspondence intrigued him. He stepped closer.

It was the image of a teenage girl turning reluctantly toward the camera. Harry had never seen her before. He turned it around but all it stated on the backside was the year, 1976. The picture was well-worn and had a yellow tinge, which was weird. Magical photographs were far more robust than their muggle counterparts.

Upon closer inspection Harry was fairly sure it had been taken on the Hogwarts grounds even though the girl wasn't wearing a school uniform. She looked rather unhealthy, Harry decided. Black hair framed a pale face and the muggle clothes were too big for her. What was remarkable about her though was the way her face lit up when she smiled.

Harry smirked. Well done, Padfoot.

Of course he wouldn't have known about his godfather's past girlfriends, he had never thought to ask about that aspect of Sirius' youth. There were way too many things he should have asked, when he had still had time. Harry's eyes started to burn. Don't even go there, Potter, he reminded himself. As he was about to put the picture back where he had found them, his gaze fell on the parchments underneath. They were letters. Dozens of them.

A paragraph in verse caught his eye.

 _But could youth last, and love still breed,_

 _had joys no date, nor age no need..._

 _Whether this will ever reach you I don't know for it has been a long time since you'd last looked at me in recognition and as of now I have no hope this injustice will ever be righted. However, I will give my last breath to try._

 _Farewell._

 _Io_

Harry turned the letter around looking for the date and found it at the top: May 5th, 1988. But... that was after the war, Sirius must have been imprisoned for years. Transfixed he stared down at the slanted writing as his mind raced. That was just impossible. His eyes moved back to the blue eyed girl. Who are you? he thought.

Who are you and why have I never heard of you before?

* * *

A knock on the door roused Remus from his thoughts.

He had been staring at the same page of ' _Dreadful Denizens of the Deep_ ' for who knows how long, when he looked up to find Harry standing in the doorway.

"Harry," Remus put his book down and motioned to the other chair in front of the fireplace, "Do come in." He noticed the dark bags under Harry's eyes and scolded himself for not taking better care of James' son. It was painful to be back at Grimmauld Place but that was no excuse.

Harry looked around the living room as he sat down. He hadn't spent much time here ever since... _that_ summer. The room seemed strangely foreign to him now that... Don't think about that, he told himself again. "I've found something," he blurted out instead. Remus raised a brow and waited for him to elaborate.

"Do you know someone named _Io_?"

Remus froze. Merlin. That was not one conversation he was ready for.

"There were some letters, and I've found this picture... "Harry took the photograph out of his back pocket when he caught the expression on Remus' face. "What's wrong?"

Remus shook his head numbly. "I haven't heard that name in a long time. Yes, I knew her. She was in our year in Hogwarts."

"Why haven't I ever heard of her? It seems like she was err- a friend?"

The grimace on Remus' face was nothing short of pained.

"So she died?" Harry tested. The chagrin on the Remus' face deepened as a terrible suspicion turned Harry's stomach. "She was a Death Eater?"

"No, nothing like that," Remus replied quietly as he motioned for Harry to show him the picture.

"But she wasn't in the Order either, right? Or else I would have seen her before."

He handed over the photograph.

"Ionia was mainly for herself and loyal to few. In that way she was a real Slytherin."

Harry started, "I didn't know Sirius had friends in Slytherin."

Remus smiled at the look of astonishment on Harry's face as he replied. "Only the one."

His weary eyes turned to contemplate the yellowed picture of the girl he once knew. She was trying to hide behind a curtain of black hair but when she turned to the camera a reluctant smile appeared. Had Sirius taken it? Remus felt the pang of an old regret added to the grief of his recent loss.

He put the photo down, suddenly feeling exhausted. "Fiercely loyal," he muttered, as if to himself.

"What happened to her?" Harry searched the other man's face, wondering. "There was a farewell note..."

"Remus?" he prodded.

Remus reluctantly returned his gaze. "That's a really long story, Harry..." he raised a hand defensively as the young man was about to protest, "And not a nice one at that. Most people in it don't get away too well, you might not even-"

"I might not even want to hear it?" Harry replied indignantly.

"There are things you might not want to know about how we all were back then. War - it has its way of getting into your head, fills you with doubt and suspicion. It brings out the worst in everyone, Harry. "

"You don't get it, do you? I don't care if it's _pleasant_! I— ".

His sudden anger had subsided as fast as it had appeared.

"I don't even know if he took his bloody tea with sugar, much less of a mysterious Slytherin friend who'd sent him countless letters for years - I mean, was he in love with her?"

As he spoke treacherous tears started to gather in his eyes. Harry wiped at them angrily.

"I thought I'd have time to ask him about all of that, that there was time." Harry stared blankly at the fire in front of them.

Remus wanted to reach out to console him but stopped his hand in mid-air, unsure how. With a sigh he finally settled back into his chair.

It would be a long night.

"Well, for one thing, you wouldn't have seen her in any of your parents' pictures because " _Jo"_ couldn't stand your father."

Harry raised a brow at that. Hadn't his father and Sirius been inseparable?

Then he tried to imagine Ron strike up a friendship with Millicent Bulstrode. Harry shuddered.

Remus shrugged. "The feeling was mutual."

"Also she didn't join us until fifth year." Remus grinned, "I'll always remember her first day though."

Harry raised a brow. "Why?"

Remus grin widened.

"Because it was the day Sirius Black met his match."

* * *

 **Both the title "When Rivers Rage and Rocks Grow Cold" and the two lines in verse are quotes from the poem "The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd" by Sir Walter Raleigh.**

 **Update: Now with proper Grammar and Spelling ;) All the Love to my wonderful Beta reader MissMooToYou! All remaining errors are my own.**


	2. Chapter 1

Fifth Year 

Chapter 1

Waiting around had never come easy to one Orphne Ephydria _Avery_. Merlin, she hated that name, couldn't wait to ditch it. The Auror, that McKinnon woman had told her to come up with a name she'd like while she was left to stew in her own misery and _wait_. The nameless girl groaned and turned in the tousled sheets.

How fitting that she would be giving herself a name now. She glanced over to her mother by the window. The old woman stared out into the night sky in catatonic stupor, grey hair falling over a gaunt face that bore no traces of its former beauty. A ghost in the flesh.

The girl was young still in many ways, but she wasn't daft. She knew she was an orphan now.

As unwelcome emotions were about to rise in her chest, the girl's face hardened in determination. No, she wouldn't allow it. Today she would give herself a new name, shed the skin of the child she had once been and would never, ever be weak again. Her gaze fell on the last gleaming log in the fireplace and the girl let her mind wander. Strong, unyielding, indomitable like... Iron. Ion. Io.

* * *

A knock on the door roused the girl from her sleep. Her eyes darted to the window; it was still dark outside. She had only meant to rest her eyes a bit and eventually fallen asleep in her clothes. Saggy hand me downs they were, she was glad she had not put on her mother's frilly night gown when the door opened and Agnes McKinnon entered, followed by a stranger.

The Auror's face was as blank as ever, so the girl turned her attention toward the old man. He wore outrageous purple and gold robes that would put the statute of secrecy in peril if they weren't currently in a wizarding village. His long hair and beard were white and so long, he had tucked them into an embroidered belt at his waist. Gold rimmed glasses framed his piercing blue eyes. He seemed to scrutinize her the same way she did him. When their eyes met though, he gave her a warm smile.

„This is Professor Dumbledore, he's here to see you now."

She rose warily to meet them.

„I'm sorry to disturb at such a late hour, Miss Avery."

The girl frowned. Her own voice sounded unfamiliar to her as she replied,

„Ionia _Rivers_. Io."

She raised her head in defiance, just in case.

„That's my name."

If a slight smirk was tearing at the corner of Dumbledore's mouth, it was too subtle to tell.

„Very well, Miss Rivers. Unfortunately we have some urgent business to discuss. I will try not to keep you for long."

With a complicated twirl of his wand the Professor conjured up two comfortable looking chintz chairs opposite the bed and invited her to sit back down.

Ionia took a seat at the foot end of the bed, hand crawling toward her hidden wand and resting there. If either of them noticed they didn't let it show. Io waited expectantly.

Upon closer inspection she found Professor Dumbledore was wearing the same symbols on his robes as McKinnon. They looked like runes, but none that Io had ever seen. She had needled the Auror relentlessly but never received a straight answer what those were about.

Odds were this stranger wouldn't tell her either. Io knit her brows in frustration.

„I am the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I take it you have heard of Hogwarts?"

Ionia nodded once, trying to focus on the matter at hand. Where was he going with that? Of course she had heard of Hogwarts. She wasn't an idiot, for Merlin's sake.

Wait a minute - Were they going to punish her after all? Take away her wand? She won't let them!

Dumbledore smiled feebly at her panicked expression.

„I've come to offer you a place at our school, Ionia."

She looked from one to the other, perplexed. Was this some sort of sick joke?

„That's impossible."

The Professor shook his head sadly.

„It is quite feasible, if the right precautions are taken and necessay arrangements are made. You will have to adhere to certain rules but it's certainly not impossible."

Io couldn't believe her ears. That sounded like-

Dumbledore frowned, „It is a shame it took these kind of circumstances to guarantee your education. Unfortunately your father had-" Ionia froze.

„Don't talk about my father!"

Oh. No. No, no, no, no!

At once Io's whole body tensed. She felt her chest convulse in pain. Her hands tightened into fist, knuckles whitening around her wand. She couldn't see - white haze was filling her head and her ears rang until she felt as though she was about to combust.

Ionia focused on breathing through her gritted teeth, trying not to panic. The noise rose, driving all rational thought from her mind. She had to cling to something - so she began counting backwards: 100, 99, 98, 97...

If only she could stop that noise.

„Breathe."

A soothing voice managed to penetrate the thunderous drone in her ears. ...96, 95, 94...

„In and out."

The noise began to die down, it was almost bearable. „...93, 92, 91..." Was she counting out loud?

Slowly the fog lifted and when the white lights stopped blinding her, she found herself looking into worried blue eyes.

Dumbledore carefully stepped back to give her space. Ionia blinked.

What had just happened? How had it stopped?

Her vision became clearer but she still felt a pounding headache. There was a movement in front of her. She tried to focus.

Then she noticed the strange symbols on Dumbledore's collar were gleaming brightly and her brows rose in astonishment as she connected the dots.

Huh. So that's what those were for.

Dumbledore's eyes followed her gaze and a triumphant smile lit up his face. He shot a glance at McKinnon who bowed her head respectfully, then returned to Io with a more solemn expression.

All of a sudden he held a beautiful crystal cup in his hand and tapped his wand against it. When Dumbledore offered it to her, Ionia accepted without a second thought and took some deep gulps of the cool liquid. It tasted like mint. Just then she realized how thirsty she'd been.

The headmaster sat back down and waited. Io drained the cup greedily. When she finally put it down, it dissappeared with a puff.

She felt exhausted. What had they been discussing? She rested her eyes for a second, trying to remember.

„Would you like to attend school?"

Her eyes opened wide. Of course.

Attend. School. That was something she had been daydreaming about ever since the first letter had arrived all those years ago. But she had known better than to ever voice those thoughts. Even now, as longing filled her heart, Io bit her lip and glanced toward the window.

Thick strands of hair had fallen into her mother's eyes. Io couldn't tell whether she was awake. It didn't really make a difference most of the time. Her eyes were stinging but Io swallowed twice and willed the tears away.

When she looked back at him, Dumbledore nodded.

„She will receive the care she needs. You may even visit her on weekends."

Her gaze lingered on his eyes, measuring his sincerity. Dumbledore appeared nothing but earnest.

„I can't afford it."

„That's already taken care of."

She couldn't even smile. It was all too unreal.

„Yes."

„Excellent. I'm sure you'll understand this will have to remain a secret though."

He measured her doubtfully, as if she didn't know the situation she was in.

„It is Agnes' duty to ensure it and it's the only way to keep you both safe."

Ionia knew that.

The Auror bore a grave expression Io had never seen before.

„What's your name?", she demanded all of a sudden.

Io blinked.

McKinnon raised a brow impatiently.

„Ionia Rivers."

„Where are you from?"

„Alb-," Io stopped herself and thought again, „Greece".

„How come you transfered?"

„I was homeschooled. My father died."

„You don't sound like a foreigner."

„I'm not. I just grew up there."

„Where's your mother?"

„Dead."

„Where's your family?"

„Don't know them."

„What, are you a mudblood?"

„How dare you!"

Io glared at the Auror.

McKinnon didn't even seem to register the livid expression on Io's face, nor the clenched fists and shaky breaths. The runes around her collar gleamed however.

Hope it burns, Io thought furiously.

The Auror turned to Dumbledore with a curt nod and got up.

„Thank you, Agnes."

„Headmaster."

When McKinnon had closed the door behind her, Dumbledore turned to Io with a faint smile.

„There is still something we need to discuss."

Io agreed. Yes, there was indeed.

* * *

Witching hour had passed and become dawn over the small village of Hogsmeade. The sun was yet to rise but light slowly seeped through, dipping the scenery in a soft hue of blue. As she stood in front of the window and looked out over the empty streets Io was reminded of the clear colour of the Ohrid lake, the peaceful early morning indigo.

Her hand softly stroked a grey strand of her mother's hair back and tucked it behind her ear. Searing heat radiated from Io's left shoulder, making even this small movement painful.

The one rune Dumbledore had cut into her skin would not suffice, that much had been clear. But Io could already sense the power the spell etched into her skin would hold. It hurt. It was uncomfortable. But it would be worth it.

Asleep her mother looked at peace.

Maybe she won't even notice when I'm gone, Io thought to herself. To her surprise that notion held no more pain, it was almost comforting.

Indomitable like iron, she had promised herself.

And so it was that on a chilly September night Ionia Rivers was born.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The autumn had progressed and it was already five weeks into the term, when Ionia Rivers made her slow ascend toward the castle. The light drizzle of rain wouldn't have bothered her any other day, nor the resulting frizz of her hair.

This though was the first night at her new school - Merlin forbid she looked presentable for the occasion. Ionia sighed. The second hand school uniform didn't help either.

At least McKinnon's impervious charm had made sure she wouldn't arrive soaked through. The thought consoled her a little as she trailed behind the ever quiet Auror.

Of course, she had already been _to_ Hogwarts. In fact she had spent the entire last week taking tests in various subjects and getting appraised by her new teachers. All in all Io had fared well. Better than anyone had expected apparantly which, even though she didn't let it on, had hurt her pride quite a bit. Ionia _was_ clever. If only...

She scratched her chest. After weeks of getting used to it, the ink still felt like it was made from itching powder. Of course, the symbols carved into her skin didn't really itch, it was rather the spellwork wrapping around her senses that was bothering her. It made her feel confined in her body and weirdly numb at the same time.

That numbness certainly didn't help with her weaker subjects; the memory of her Transfiguration test still made her want to cringe in embarassment. The bloody teacup simply wouldn't stop squeaking, so Io had lost her nerve and smashed it by accident.

But she would deal with it, Io told herself sternly. She would deal with it and not be ungrateful. After all, the runes were the only reason she was about to enter the fifth year at Hogwarts, albeit five weeks late.

They had arrived.

Ionia looked up to the huge stone arc looming over her. It didn't look all that welcoming. A door opened and a big belly appeared on the threshold. She recognized it at once. It belonged to Professor Slughorn, her house teacher.

„Ah there you are, Miss Rivers. Right on time."

With a curt nod McKinnon bid her farewell and dissapeared. Ionia snorted. So much for soppy goodbyes.

As Slughorn took his lead, she followed on. An utmost sense of doom enveloped her. Everything about her Hogwarts experience so far had been bizarre. Well, nothing could be worse than what they had called the Sorting _ceremony._

Those were certainly not the words Io would use to describe it. It had not been ceremonious in any way and rather too invasive for her liking. Put a dirty old hat on your head so it can rummage through your brain and be insolent about it - that's what she'd call it. If that was how things were done at Hogwarts, Merlin knew what lay ahead of her.

They walked down a dark corridor and up some stairs until they arrived at the great hall.

Ionia stopped and her gloomy thoughts were blown away as she stared up at the enchanted ceiling and felt like a wide-eyed kid again. That magical sense of wonder lasted for only about 10 seconds though. Then hundreds of eyes turned toward her.

Oh well, Io thought wryly, here goes your big entrance scene.

* * *

Dinner passed in a blur. Someone had piled food onto her plate. Io chewed but barely tasted whatever she was eating. Not that she got around to much eating, what with all the questions. The Slytherin prefect had been so gracious and manoeuvred her to a free seat surrounded by other fifth years. What was her name again? Elana? Elaine?

Some questions were to be expected. Where she was from - Greece. How come she had switched schools - she had been homeschooled till her father died. McKinnon had „briefed" her in such depth on the fake life of Ionia Rivers, she almost felt as if her real life had been a vague, dark dream and she had been Io all along.

Some questions were weirder. Was she related to the Rosenham Rivers - never heard of them. The Peltham Rivers? Dutroux Rivers? Io just kept shaking her head. McKinnon had warned her that the Slytherins would be interested in her ancestry.

And then some questions were so odd, Io had no idea what to say. Did the girls in Greece follow Muggle fashion - she wouldn't know, they'd lived in a remote area. Were the boys good looking - err, sure? Did they allow Muggleborns into school? Into the ministry? Io shrugged helplessly.

„Come on, let her eat something."

The prefect girl, _Elaine_ , had appearantly sensed that Io was feeling overwhelmed by the onslaught of questions. She gave Io a warm smile and passed her the roast potatoes.

„How were you sorted?"

Elaine shot an exasperated look toward the tall boy who had asked. Io had just managed to put a spoonful of hot potatoes in her mouth. She chewed hastily, burning her tongue in the process and grimaced. The tall boy didn't wait for an answer.

„Ah well, you're a Slytherin now. In case they didn't tell you: Congrats, that means you're part of the elite."

The people around them grinned.

„So why are _you_ here, Wilkes?" a blonde girl challenged.

The tall boy clutched his heart in mock outrage.

„Why, my lovely Abby, I never..."

The others laughed, the blonde rolled her eyes and gave Wilkes a peck on the cheek.

Finally the conversation turned to other things and Io sighed in relief. She wasn't particularly shy but then again she had never spent much time around peers.

Merlin's beard, some kid at another table had just stood up on the bench to catch a better glimpse of her. Ionia groaned and hunched her shoulders.

She reached out for a jug right in front of her. A hand caught her wrist before she could touch it. Ionia froze and looked into a pair of glowing black eyes. The boy let go of her hand instantly.

„You don't want to drink that."

„I don't-"

With an irritated jerk of his head, he motioned toward a group of kids at the other end of the hall. A boy with messy black hair and glasses bent over laughing hysterically, spilling his milk in the process.

The dark haired boy next to him grinned and looked mighty pleased with himself. Io had no idea what made her think that, but she was pretty sure that was a rather permanent facial expression of his. She looked back up at the boy next to her, raising a brow.

„What would happen?"

He shrugged. „Nothing, if you don't mind opulent plumage."

„Oh."

She quietly returned to the food in front of her, but whatever appetite she had had, was gone.

„Don't worry."

She looked up again, surprised she had been that easy to read.

„They're not going to give _you_ a hard time. Just steer clear of Gryffindors, you'll be fine."

She looked back over to the other table. The smug kid caught her glance and _winked_. Merlin. Now that was just perfect. Io pointedly ignored him and extended a hand to the boy next to her instead.

„I'm Io."

„Severus."

She scanned the table in front of her. „Now what _hasn't_ been tampered with?"

„Try the pomegranate juice and the treacle tart."

She raised a brow at the odd choices.

Severus shrugged again. „I loathe both of those."

* * *

Once Io was able to relax a bit, she found she actually enjoyed herself. The students around her were a bright, quick-witted bunch and before long Io joined in the laughter.

On their way down to the dungeons, the blonde girl, who had introduced herself as Abigail Yvette Rosier, informed her of the complex relations of the student body and the latest gossip.

Of course Io had no idea who she was talking about, all that she gathered was that the house rivalries were a big deal and the Gryffindors were a bunch of loud and pompous trolls, who believed they were better than everyone else.

Also, some boy from Ravenclaw had started dating a Muggle-born. Telling from the nasty sneer on Abby's face and Elaine's guarded expression, there seemed to be a story there. However Io was prudent enough not to ask about it.

They arrived at the end of a long corridor. Elaine stepped in front of the damp stone wall.

„Melusine."

The stones started to move backwards, forming an arched door that slid noiselessly to the side. Io followed behind Elaine and entered a large furnished room that was flooded with soft green light.

Ionia gasped. Large windows were set into all six stones walls of the room that looked out into... the lake? She turned around. The door was there, closing this very moment behind Abby and to each side was a window, framed with heavy curtains in the house colours.

Wait a second, Io wondered. It's night out - how can the water be illuminated?

„It's quite something, isn't it?", Elaine smiled.

Io nodded faintly, marveling at the impossible architecture. A school of fish shot by one of the windows. Groups of students were sitting in comfortable looking chairs around the large fireplace. Some turned around to look at them curiously.

„Wait till you see our dorm."

Elaine led them down one of the hallways that spread out in each direction from the common room. The stone walls were covered in opulent tapestries that showed idyllic underwater sceneries. Io was sure she had never been around this much luxury in her life.

„Slytherin alumni tend to be quite generous," Elaine explained.

„We like to take care of our own," Abby added, not without an air of pride.

The dorm was another hexagon-shaped room. Five wooden four-poster beds were grouped around the centre. They had rich green curtains that could be drawn for privacy and what looked like satin bedding. Next to each bed was a dresser made of the same dark wood. Io noticed her shabby trunk on top of one of them.

The large windows were looking out into the lake at a spot with particularly beautiful flowers swaying in the water.

„You've met Ethelyn-", a stout girl with curly red hair and freckles waved at her „and this is Cadi Jones." Cadi shook Ionia's hand with a firm handshake. „Ionia."

„Nice to meet you."

„She's our prime Quidditch star," Elaine added.

The girl with the short brown hair and athletic build rolled her eyes at that.

„Oh. Which position?"

„Seeker. Do you play?"

She shook her head.

Cadi looked a bit disappointed. Io had in fact never even touched a broom, but she'd rather drop dead than admit _that_.

Abby nodded toward Io's bed.

„It appeared overnight. So we'd guessed we would get a new classmate even before Slughorn told our precious prefect."

Elaine shrugged.

„They probably thought the student body would delve into wild speculations otherwise."

Io frowned at that.

„Don't worry. One, two weeks tops and the novelty will have passed."

Io's frown deepened.

That didn't ease her worry one bit.

Abby chuckled at her expression and Io couldn't help but feel her mood brighten a bit.

* * *

Much later when Io lay in her soft bed and peered out into the soothing green of the water, she realized she felt something she hadn't in a long time:

She was looking forward to the next morning.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A high-pitched shriek woke Io from her slumber. Disoriented at first, she looked around until she remembered where she was. She hastily opened the curtain to find out what was going on.

„That nasty blood-traitor scum! How dare he-"

Abigail was desperately trying to get out of a black top that appeared to be shrinking by the second and resisting all attempts to be taken off. Io got up quickly and grabbed her wand without a second thought.

„Diffindo!"

A neat slash along the seam appeared and freed Abby from the piece of clothing. It fell to the floor and kept shrinking until it all but dissapeared.

„Th-anks," Abby stammered, still catching her breath.

Cadi hastily entered the room with a towel around her head.

„Are you alright? I heard someone scream."

Abby shook her head in anger.

„ _Black_ ," she spat out.

* * *

It didn't take long until Io found out exactly who had earned Abby's scorn. When they entered the Great Hall, the blonde girl headed straight for the Gryffindor table.

The smug kid turned around to her stream of insults with an innocent expression.

The entire student body paused and turned to listen.

„But, Sugarplum- What ever is the matter? Is it that time of the month again?"

„ _You_ -", Abby's face had turned a violent shade of red.

„-lovely human being? Beautiful young stallion?"

She flicked out her wand and held it to his throat. The boy's smug smile shrunk a size or two.

„I will hex you into next week you bloody, disgusting-"

The two boys beside him were about to jump up and defend him, when the stern voice of Professor McGonagal interrupted.

„That is quite enough, Miss Rosier."

Abby seemed to consider hexing the boy anyway, but finally turned around and moved away, still fuming. The boy got up and stretched out his hand in mock longing.

„Don't leave, Buttercup! We can fix this!"

„Detention, Mr. Black."

„What?!", he and the other two boys yelled unisono.

„But Professor, he didn't do anything! Rosier, she-", the dark haired boy with glasses tried to reason.

„Clearly had a reason, Mr. Potter."

„But that's no fair!", the chubby blonde one exclaimed.

„One more word from either of you and you will both be joining Mr. Black."

The chubby boy opened his mouth in outrage and closed it again with a petulant expression. The boy named Black patted his arm in a placating manner as Professor McGonagal moved away with an exasperated sigh.

Almost immediately the great hall returned to its cheery chatter. Io looked around for Abby, but she must have left without breakfast.

Cadi sank down next to her and grabbed some toast and butter. Io was surprised by the nonchalance of the student body after what had just happened. She wondered whether that meant this type of thing was a regular occurence.

„So... does that happen a lot?"

Cadi nodded with a distinct air of annoyance as she motioned to Black and Potter.

„Yeah. Those two love their stupid little pranks. You'd think they'd grow out of it at some point...", Cadi shook her head. „Pettigrew usually tags along, the little git." She looked over to the other table and frowned. „Huh, usually Lupin's with them. Must be sick again. He's alright, but you know, guilty by association and all that."

Io glanced over to the other table. The trio _looked_ rather subdued, but then again they held what looked like a heated whispered conversation. Io frowned in spite of herself, then forced herself to turn away.

She took the exact same food Cadi had. Just in case.

* * *

Io had always thought of herself as fairly clever. The first lesson in the morning proved her wrong.

Some of the things Professor Flitwick discussed sounded vaguely familiar, however when she looked around nobody else looked as lost as she felt. In fact the classroom buzzed with excitement as the other pupils teamed up to practise the Transcendence spell.

She had been teamed up with Ophelia, a quiet Ravenclaw girl, who appeared nice enough. Io threw a stealthy glance toward the blackboard. Focus on blankness, then... swirl the wand in an entrancing manner? Spi-ra-sci-o. Spir- _a-_ scio. Spira-sc _i_ o!

Ophelia smiled at her vaguely. „I'll start."

Io nodded and tried to relax. She looked at Ophelia, who began to move her wand in a spiraling motion.

„Sp _i_ rascio!"

At first nothing happened. Io frowned at the wandtip that was definitely too close to her face for her liking. It's alright, Io tried to calm herself. She felt the runes burning up under her skin, growing more irritating by the second. Io leaned away out of instinct.

Then her mind went blank.

A few moments later Io looked up in confusion. Somehow she had landed on the floor. Ophelias pale face appeared over her.

„I'm so sorry. Are you allright?"

Io got up quickly, hoping no one had noticed. Her head was spinning.

„What happened?"

Ophelia smiled apologetically. „You kept leaning backwards until you fell."

„Oh." Io felt the heat creeping onto her face.

When she noticed Professor Flitwick moving towards them, she quickly grabbed her wand in the hopes of escaping the embarassment of the situation.

„My turn."

Whatever Io was focusing on, however, it wasn't blankness. She stammered „Spira-sc _i_ o!" and a blazing white light flashed. Ophelia covered her eyes, crying out in pain. The students around them turned away quickly, a few dove under their desks to escape the blinding light.

„Finite incantatem."

Professor Flitwick flicked his wand and the spell was broken instantly.

Ionia wished she knew how to dissaparate or make the ground swallow her on the spot. She wouldn't even mind if she could just drop dead this instant. Anything but _this_.

She heard someone snicker.

„Keep practicing. It's all in the spiral movement," a lighthearted voice chimed next to her.

When she raised her head, Flitwick had already moved on to another pair.

Ophelia rubbed her stinging red eyes and blinked a couple of times. When she turned to a mortified Ionia, she gave her a friendly smile anyway.

„Let's just practice the wand movement first, shall we?"

Io nodded gratefully.

When Flitwick dismissed them, Ionia was positive the headmaster would soon realize his mistake and kick her out. Not only had she made an utter fool of herself in front of the entire class, but Ophelia had gone over to talking to her as if she was a toddler.

On their way to the next class Elaine showered Io with words of encouragement, that she would soon catch up, that it was all a matter of practice, that she would just have to _wait_ and see. Io sighed dramatically but didn't argue.

Ancient Runes was a disaster.

The students at Hogwarts were expected to be fluent in Elder Futhark runes for their translations, while Io had only ever studied the Standard Issue of Proto-Germanic runes at home. She struggled to keep up with the class and had to look up several runes under the table. Professor Babbling caught her twice.

Elaine still found it in her to look at the bright side, at least Io would be ahead when they'd use other sets of runes.

Care of Magical Creatures was worse.

Everyone else seemed to be doing fine with their Porlocks. But whenever Io approached the shaggy little beast in front of her, it took flight. Once she came too close to the horses and the Porlocks bared their pointy little teeth with a fierce growl. When Professor Kettleburn finally took pity on her, she was sent to clean out the Porlock manure.

Elaine shut up when she saw Io's crestfallen face and used a cleaning charm on her instead that made Io smell like a very clean lemon.

So when Io arrived at her first class of Arithmancy she expected the worst. At least Elaine wouldn't be there to encourage her some more, she tried to console herself.

Professor Wenlock expected them to combine their theoretical knowledge of Celtic numerology with the Anglian translations of Hieroglyphs to make sense of Ancient Egyptian spellwork.

While she had been fairly confident in her knowledge of celtic numerology, she had no idea what she was even supposed to do here. Io felt like crying. There didn't appear to be any numerological system to the words _or_ the glyphs. Again, no one else seemed to have trouble with the task. When the time had passed to turn in their work, Io had a pounding headache.

But it was Transfiguration that finally made her snap.

On the up side, it was the last class for the day. On the down side, she was late. Ionia had no clue how anyone ever got anywhere on time in this castle. She had taken the wrong turn and suddenly found herself two levels higher than she had wanted to go.

So when Io arrived, class was about to start. She hurried inside and darted toward the closest open seat.

„Is that seat taken?", she stammered out of breath. When the boy turned and looked at her in surprise, she realized her mistake.

„Erm- sure?"

Clearly she had chosen the crimson section of the room. Although she'd only been a Slytherin for a day, she knew she wasn't supposed to fraternize with the enemy.

At that exact moment Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and Io had no choice but to sit down. Some of her Slytherin classmates turned to look at her in disbelief. Abby shook her head theatrically. Cadi facepalmed.

„Well, hello there..." an amused voice whispered closeby. The black haired boy one seat down from her had leaned back in his chair to grin at her.

It was the smug kid. Ugh.

Turning tail and running out of the classroom suddenly seemed tempting. Instead, Io willed herself to focus on Professor McGonagall who had just made a goblet appear and filled it with water.

„Having a good time so far?", he teased.

That's right. They'd had Care of Magical Creatures with the Gryffindors. An angry blush heated her cheeks.

„Must be lousy at Slytherin, if she's already seeking refuge with us," another voice mused. Io would bet a galleon that it belonged to Potter.

„Or she's just lousy at _being_ a Slytherin and they don't want her."

Io locked her jaw. Professor McGonagall was talking about conjuration in concept, they would start with-

„I hear Porlock manure is really beneficial, though."

Io turned toward Black with a murderous glare, only to find that his face was inches away from hers. She clenched her fist, ready to damn it all to hell. The runes on her chest were burning painfully, spurring her on.

He chuckled at her angry hiss.

„Merlin, Sirius, cut it out."

A pale hand grabbed Sirius' arm and pulled him back.

„Killjoy."

The other boy shook his head in annoyance.

„Oh, Moony Schmoony, don't be mad..."

„Mr. Black, do you _want_ to spend the rest of the year in detention?"

Sirius looked up and found Professor McGonagall standing right in front of them.

„Anything to be close to you, Professor", he responded with a radiant smile.

„Front row. _Now_."

Sirius grabbed his belongings and relocated with a tragic sigh right next to a very annoyed Severus.

The Professor handed out brass cups to all of them and filled them with water. They were supposed to vanish the water, but not the cup. Io read through her notes, but she couldn't make sense of what she had written down. She sighed in defeat.

The boy sitting next to her seemed to notice her distress. He bit his lip and hesitated for a moment, then he pushed a scroll over to her side of the table. It showed the methodology of conjuration, something they had apparently studied the week before.

Io peered down at the neat handwriting. That... made sense. She glanced over to her saviour, but he had already directed his attention to the cup again.

She went back to his notes, then read through her own. So the vanishing charm was less than the opposite of a conjuration, as nothing was less than the opposite of everything? Io pondered this. However if it followed the same logic in essence...

She turned to her cup and visualized the different textures of copper and water and separated them in her mind.

„Evanesco!"

The water in her cup quivered. Io smiled in astonishment. She hadn't expected anything to happen at her first try.

When she looked up she caught the boy next to her smiling faintly in return. He looked nice when he smiled. Only now did Io see the grey streaks in his hair and the tired lines on his face. Was he ill?

„So, what now, Professor?"

Io turned to see Sirius looking even more pleased with himself than usual, swinging back and forth with his chair. Professor McGonagall inspected his cup and refilled it wordlessly with a flick of her wand.

„How about I help the new girl instead? I think she _really_ needs it", he fake-whispered in mock concern.

Io gaped at him in terror. How dare that little-

The Professor however simply ignored him and went on to see how the other students fared. Sirius turned around and caught Io's outraged stare. And then he _winked_.

The water in Io's cup began to foam dangerously. That. was. it.

Then three things happened at once: The hindlegs of Sirius' chair vanished, her cup melted and Io blacked out.

When she came to a few seconds later, the first thing she heard was roaring laughter.

Sirius' chair had tipped over and - supposedly while falling - he had taken down the water filled cups of the row behind him. Hence a very wet Sirius was looking around incredulously and held his head where he had banged it.

Those that were laughing already - namely the Slytherins - howled at the dumbfounded expression on his face, while the rest couldn't help but at least snicker at his misfortune. The loudest howls however came from his friend, Potter, who'd gotten up for standing ovations.

Only the boy next to Io wasn't looking at Sirius at all. He was staring at Io.

Uh-oh.

She suddenly realized her skin was radiating heat and leaned away from him, searing pain shooting through her skin as she moved. But the damage was done; she could see it in his eyes.

Io gave him a pleading look. His eyes widened.

She looked away and saw Professor McGonagall inspecting the two legged chair with what looked like an impressed smirk. McGonagall swung her wand easily and the chair grew another pair of legs.

„Now, calm down", McGonagall reproved the class.

The laughter died down almost instantly, although Abby was still hiccuping and had to press her hands against her mouth.

„The next one to disturb this class, will leave and not come back. Have I made myself clear?"

The following silence was absolute. Sirius sat back down and glanced over his shoulder. When he caught Io's rueful expression a slow smile started to spread across his face.

In a sudden bout of telepathy, Io knew exactly what he was thinking: Oh, it was _on._


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Care of Magical Creatures had easily become Io's least favourite subject in the course of two lessons. They were still studying porlocks, yet Io didn't make any progress with the little horse guardians. If they remained in her vicinity at all it was only to protect their herd. The furry beasts looked harmless, but their sharp teeth were not.

Io was once again trying to attract one of the tiny monsters with a fresh bouquet of green grass. Her porlock wasn't impressed.

When laughter erupted around her, Io didn't even react, what with her being a constant source of amusement and all. When it persisted though, she swung around warily.

Abby's face had turned scarlet from trying to suppress laughter. Elaine bit down a grin. She looked over to the Gryffindors and saw Sirius whistling innocently.

Then she felt something fluffy brush her head.

Io's hand darted to her forehead and caught the fluffy thing. She tucked at it harshly and it hurt.

A slow realization dawned upon her: it was her ear.

It was long. It was furry. It was...

Oh no, he had not-

Suddenly she felt something grow on her butt. Io clasped her hands on her behind and touched what was unmistakably a plush little tail.

She whipped out her wand with a shriek. The class laughed harder. Io started firing hexes at a snickering Sirius, who jumped around in a half-hearted attempt to escape her scorn.

"Good little bunny! Sweet little bunny!"

An unhuman growl escaped from Io's throat which sent the porlocks running for their life.

"What? I thought it might help with the Porlocks!"

* * *

Fortunately Io didn't have to wait long to retaliate.

Defence was one of the few classes where she didn't need to worry about keeping up with the others. Professor Laurel was a middle-aged, very tidy looking witch who seemed better suited to teach them about household charms than the dark arts.

When they were getting ready to duel yet again so the teacher could avoid actually teaching them something, she knew this was her chance.

Sirius and that chubby little friend of his, Pettigrew, had been paired up together. Io muttered the curse under her breath and waited for the events to unfold.

All of a sudden Sirius' mouth puckered up and pulled him forward with a jerk. At first Pettigrew was too shocked to react as Sirius' mouth drew nearer in an attempt to smooch him.

When he came too close Pettigrew jumped aside with a yelp. But Sirius' lips would not rest before they got the kiss they longed for. He chased after him.

The other students turned around just in time to see Sirius lock the other boy in a tight embrace and plant kisses all over his face while Pettigrew desperately tried to escape.

Potter jumped in to break the curse, but that just made Sirius turn to persecute him instead.

That was the beauty of it, Ionia beamed. Each time someone tried to break it, the curse got more powerful.

Professor Laurel clearly wasn't equipped to handle the situation and kept trying to release Sirius from the curse. His puckered lips just continued growing in size and his romantic advances became more frantic.

Finally, Sirius managed to plant his comically blown up lips on Potter's for a passionate kiss. The class howled in excitement and clapped.

When Sirius' finally caught his breath, his eyes found Io. She just shrugged with a smile. His face darkened.

"What? I thought I'd help you lovebirds out."

* * *

Io's potion essay exploded when she handed it in to Professor Slughorn. Her shoes got stuck to the ground when she tried to get to Arithmancy on time. Her writing vanished from her Ancient Runes homework, because someone had switched her ink with Zonko's famous prank-ink.

In short, Potter and Pettigrew had become equally as keen on getting their revenge as Sirius.

And Io fired back with all that she had.

Pettigrew's candy developed laxative qualities, which made for a hilarious potions incident.

Potter's glasses got stuck to his nose, upside-down. It took Madame Pomfrey two hours to detach them and resulted in ugly red burns around his temples.

Sirius' date with Meredith Fairchild took an unexpected turn for the worse when, instead of murmuring soppy things, white mice started jumping out of his throat.

With each prank, the answering one got more severe. In less than a week, things were spiraling out of control.

That one time Io iced the floor on the potions corridor, Potter crashed and nearly broke his neck. That other time when the boys made the self-fertilising shrub attack her on the way to Kettleburn's class, Io nearly lost an eye.

Somewhere deep down Io knew that at this rate they were going, someone was going to get hurt soon. Maybe it would be wiser to back down.

But then she remembered how they had bewitched the Hogwarts populace of Mucopus Toads to believe Io was their queen.

If someone was going to get hurt, she would just have to make sure that it wouldn't be her.

* * *

Arithmancy was as irritating as ever. Although Io was slowly catching up on the material, that hardly brought any relief. Now she was simply able to fully appreciate how complicated it was.

Professor Wenlock had set them to the task of investigating the usefulness of numerological systems when applied to other cultures. She had to admit that was an interesting concept. If only it weren't for all the bloody Ravenclaws in her class.

Io scowled. While she fully understood her housemates' loathing for the Gryffindor prats, Io herself felt a lot more resentful toward the house of Ravenclaw. She couldn't compete with their pace nor scholarly discipline and instead of flaunting it, they thought they were so beyond clever they didn't even need to show off.

She stared down at the chart she had drawn and the numbers started to swim, prompting Io to rub her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Let me take a look."

Io flinched in surprise, when she found the teacher leaning over her work, checking what she had written down. This close up, she noticed there were white strands in his dark hair.

Huh. Professor Wenlock wasn't actually all that young.

She hadn't thought him to be older than thirty-five. Io shook her head at her own silliness. Obviously wizards didn't become teachers straight after school.

"Here."

He put his index finger to the third line of her calculation and then she noticed it: an accidental switch of numbers. The entire equation was wrong.

Io groaned.

"It's not that bad." The teacher gave her an encouraging smile, before he turned to another student.

Sympathy. Could she sink any lower?

Io went ahead to furiously strike out her previous work and was just about to start anew. That was when she saw it: a singular white hair on her parchment.

An idea dawned on her and drove away the dark clouds in her mind.

Oh, this was going to be good.

She stealthily took out a vial and put the white hair inside.

* * *

The rest of it was pretty easy to organize.

Sirius had made plenty of enemies among the Slytherins and Io's ongoing feud with the Gryffindors had earned her more respect in the course of a week than anything else could have ever accomplished that. So the potion wasn't hard to come by.

Io had also been right about him being arrogant enough to believe a secret admirer would send him chocolates, apparently.

They were in their Charms class when they heard the commotion outside.

"Stay where you are."

Professor Flitwick moved towards the door. They could hear the yelling now.

"Please, just let me explain-"

"Stay away from me!"

Of course the entire class was out on the hallway in no time and found Sirius chasing after a horrified Professor Wenlock.

Laughter erupted all around Io. She grinned contentedly.

The Professor was looking for an escape from the love-crazed teenager but he soon arrived at a dead end.

"Hear me out! I'll do whatever, just don't leave me, please..."

Io could hear Abby whistle right next to her. Wenlock was shaking in anger.

"This is not funny. I don't know who told you-"

He was enunciating every word very clearly.

"Portius!"

Sirius fell to his knees and wailed.

"Why can't you love me?"

He started to sob uncontrollably.

Oh. That was... unexpected.

Judging from his dumbfounded expression, Professor Wenlock thought so, too.

Io looked around. The laughter had only grown in volume, the Slytherins were positively jeering. Severus looked like someone had given him the best gift of his life.

"Stupefy!"

Potter's angry yell pierced through the laughter. Sirius fell to the floor; the spell had rendered him unconscious. Potter moved toward his side and cast a quick levicorpus spell.

Professor Wenlock had finally come out of his shock and went to take Sirius to the hospital wing, as Flitwick was shooing them back to their class. Before Io left she turned around and caught Potter's eye.

His icy glare made her shiver. Maybe she had taken this too far.

Someone patted her on the back; it was Severus.

"You're cold, Rivers."

He meant that as a compliment.

* * *

As soon as the teachers had found out about the love potion, they had suspected her. So Ionia had to come clean to avoid further investigation.

Not only had they taken 50 points from Slytherin for it, costing them their early lead in the house cup. Her prank had landed her a month's worth of detention with Professor Wenlock.

He still appeared visibly shaken when she explained to the teachers about the expired love potion and how it had been meant as a light-hearted joke. The look of utter disappointment Wenlock had cast at her had been far worse than any harsh words Slughorn had offered.

Meanwhile Sirius and his friends had ignored her all day, otherwise acting like their usual pratty selves. She should probably be relieved by that instead of feeling crushed.

What the hell was wrong with her? It's not like they'd been friends.

To make matters worse the other Slytherins were mad at her. Not because of her stupid prank. Not even because she got caught! But because she had confessed.

Ionia sighed as she leaned over another long Potions essay. It was past midnight and she still hadn't finished her homework. How was she going to get anything done if she was to spend every night at Wenlock's office reorganizing his scrolls by date and topic?

All because of that infuriating, smug little- A burning pain shot through her skin. Io closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

She really had to do something about her temper.

Io sighed.

When she opened her eyes again, she realized she wasn't alone. Severus was approaching with two steaming cups and set one down in front of her. It smelled like coffee.

"Thanks."

She took a big gulp and spluttered. It was really strong coffee.

They sat together in companiable silence for a while, until Severus spoke up.

"You know what they say about fighting with idiots."

Io looked at him with a quizzical expression. Severus sighed.

"They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience."

Io tried for a smile and failed. She managed a grimace.

Severus shook his head, as if he had just realized something.

"You actually feel bad about it." It wasn't a question.

Io remembered how she'd made Sirius cry. She really hated that git, but...

"Yeah", she admitted in defeat.

"You know they've done a lot worse."

Io thought about that. It wasn't all that hard to imagine, especially where Severus was concerned. They called him Snivellus.

Severus smiled faintly, but didn't comment any further. He glanced at her half-written essay.

"Do you need help with that?"

Io gulped, feeling the last remnant of her academic pride dying. She nodded. Yeah, she did.

Severus grabbed her scroll and started reading. A few moments later he sighed in exasperation.

"That bad?"

Severus smirked.

"It's not hopeless."

* * *

 **Footnote: Snape is of course (mis)quoting George Carlin here, which is rather unlikely but not entirely impossible, I think. The original quote is: "Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience."**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

A week had passed since the _incident_ and still nothing bad had happened to Io, apart from the occasional angry shove or insult. Sirius himself had gone over to completely ignoring her. She suspected that the Gryffindors wanted her to develop a false sense of security, so it'd be easier to strike when they did.

But Io wouldn't just lie down and accept her fate.

When she entered the Great Hall, dinner was almost over. Io had made sure to arrive late and sit down at different spots around the house table every meal for the past week, just in case they were going to slip something into her food. Her roommates were still annoyed with Io and her twitchy behaviour only made matters worse. As she inspected the pumpkin juice in front of her, she noticed Abby rolling her eyes and whispering to a giggling Ethelyn. Io didn't get it. She had not told on Abby, who'd been the one to provide the botched potion. Why on earth would she be so annoyed?

It started to dawn on Io that there was a lot more to girl friendships than she could fathom. Maybe there was a lot more to student life in general than she knew. The alliances and rivalries in her house alone were so complicated and kept shifting so often, she just couldn't keep up. She took a bite from her cold toast, but lost her appetite almost immediately. Worrying that the food might be poisoned didn't help, either. Io chewed slowly and grimaced. Maybe she should go with something sweet instead. Right at that moment the trays of food disappeared from the tables, as if to spite her.

Io got up with a sigh. She would have to leave soon for detention anyway. She caught Severus' glance at the far side of the table and nodded in passing.

Well, she consoled herself, at least she had one ally in this mess.

* * *

Detention with Professor Wenlock was a mind-numbingly boring ordeal. He had a huge cabinet of scrolls, ranging from class notes in Wenlocks' own writing to ancient scripture in strange languages and glyphs. Most however where neither decipherable nor interesting. Furthermore Wenlock made her wear heavy leather gloves, that made it impossible to turn pages. Whether that was to protect the old text or her, Io wasn't sure. On more than one occasion one of the scrolls had hissed at her or tried to escape from her grasp. Maybe it was all part of the punishment.

Worst of all, however, was how absolutely pointless her effort was. The filing system was complicated and stupid. She couldn't read half of the scrolls; most weren't dated or the authors had remained anonymous. So she mostly sat there trying to decipher miniscule text and either filing it under 'some mumbo-jumbo', 'old person ranting over something unimportant' or 'potentially dangerous words no living soul can read'.

The Professor didn't seem to care. Apart from a curt greeting at the beginning and a short acknowledgement at the end of the night, they didn't speak.

Io had arrived a bit early tonight in the hopes of squeezing in some study time at the library afterwards, if he let her go sooner. But Wenlock was unrelenting. He sat there unmoved, entirely engrossed in the heavy book in front of him. Civilizations could rise and fall and they'd still sit there till the clock struck twelve, Io thought sullenly.

At least she had finally advanced to a section of the cabinet with writings in English. Professor Wenlock appeared to have a rather large collection of historical analysis by a scholar named Seisyll. Flipping through, Io realized they were all concerning magical artefacts. She stopped to read one of the scrolls that was about a famed peridot locket.

It was rather interesting, she had to admit. The author had collected eye witness accounts and worked on analysing the spell work structure through the stone's origins and the place where the locket was crafted. Io frowned. That sounded unnecessarily complicated. Couldn't he just have- Oh, that's why. The last person to experiment on the locket had blown himself to bits. Or, as Seisyll had put it:

 _The unfortunate berk found the trinket's defences to be... overwhelming._

She chuckled.

Io turned to another page. The Roshan tiara?

 _The roots of the tale of the legendary Roshan tiara, the diadem of brightness, while closely linked to the royal family of the Sasanian wizarding empire, can be traced back to Babylonian times. The mythical exaltation of the tiara as a dark artefact can in fact be attributed to the misunderstanding of its origin._ _Long believed to be under a Parthian curse to haunt the Shahansha's family, it is in fact the mastery of the Akkadian spell work that is said to give the bearer a far deeper understanding of the fabric of the world than the wizard's mind could ever dream to hold..._

Intrigued, Io read on and suddenly gasped.

She looked up and found Professor Wenlock in the exact same position as before, sitting at his desk with a straight back and a stern expression, eyes fixed on the book in front of him. She hesitated for a moment, but her curiosity won.

"Erm, Professor?"

He turned to her with a blank expression, as if he had all but forgotten about her.

"Those scrolls here, erm by _Seisyll_? That's all mainly speculative, right?"

Wenlock's expression was unmoved, but Io thought she could see a spark in his eye that hadn't been there a moment ago.

"What makes you think that?"

"It's just that- some of it seems... unlikely and err, absurd, to be frank."

He gave her a faint smile, but waited for Io to elaborate further.

"Like with this Roshan tiara. I find it hard to believe that people would hand something down to their children that was guaranteed to drive them insane. For generations!"

At this, Wenlock guffawed. "Ah, but it makes perfect sense."

Io couldn't help but wonder whether the Professor was a bit mad himself. It seemed to show on her face, because he sobered up quickly.

"The promise of omniscience simply was too tempting," he explained matter-of-factly.

"But- they knew they wouldn't get that, so what was even the point?"

"That's where you're wrong, see. The tiara held such masterful spell work, it opened the wizarding capabilities to foresee and comprehend the flux of time." Wenlock's face had suddenly come alive as he spoke and Io was certain she had just found the right topic to engage him. "The Shahansha understood that knowledge would drive the bearer insane and still wanted to obtain it. He knew they'd most likely never be able to use those insights, and still he wouldn't give it up. If anyone, he believed, were to wield such power, it should be the Shah. Hybris, Miss Rivers, simple as that."

"But, wasn't it passed down to the- Oh." Now she understood.

"To the second daughter, yes."

Io frowned, trying to make sense of that.

"That's so... cruel."

Wenlock regarded her with an unreadable expression.

"That's what families are like."

Io's frown deepened. It really shouldn't make as much sense to her as it did.

"Well, they did hand it to a son at some point, because one Shah had not fathered any daughters. That son went and killed his father and eighteen brothers. You see why people believed the tiara was cursed..."

"I bet they didn't make that mistake twice."

Wenlock smirked. "You would think that, wouldn't you?"

Io shook her head in disbelief. "Where's the tiara now?"

"It is lost."

Io couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed to hear that.

"All for the better, if you ask me," he added and turned back to his reading.

After that, Io gave up all pretense to file the documents and instead delved into the collection of Seisyll's writings.

When she finally got up to leave it was way past curfew. Professor Wenlock wordlessly handed her a book, before he dismissed her; _Golden Fleece and Broken Horne - Arcane Artefacts Through the Ages_ by Rowan Vanderlaan.

* * *

Io knocked on the solid wooden door of Slughorn's office. It was Saturday, Halloween, the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, which meant nearly three weeks had passed since she'd arrived at Hogwarts. In some ways Io couldn't believe it had only been three weeks, in other ways time had flown by so quickly, it felt like it was only yesterday she had kissed her mother goodbye. Elaine had asked her whether she wanted to come along to the village, but didn't seem all that put out when Io said she couldn't go. Although, technically...

Io knocked again, this time with more force.

"Just a moment," a booming voice sounded from the other side of the door.

When Professor Slughorn finally opened the door to let her in, Io realized he wasn't alone. Agnes McKinnon sat in one of the comfortable leather chairs by the fireplace, sipping at a cup of tea.

"We'd just been talking about you," the Professor informed her.

Io snorted. She'd guessed as much.

"I hear you've kept quite busy."

The stern look the Auror gave her let Io know exactly what McKinnon thought of _that_.

She put her teacup down.

"It's time."

Io rolled her eyes. As if _she_ had been stalling.

McKinnon got up and walked over to the fireplace.

"Thank you for the tea, Horace."

Oh, look who's getting all chatty.

"Any time, my dear."

Io accepted some flea powder from the Auror and stepped into the green flames without hesitation.

"The Hog's Head."

Just seconds later she stepped out of the familiar fireplace in Aberforth's dormitory and brushed off the coal dust on her cloak. With a swoosh McKinnon stepped out behind her a moment later. McKinnon opened the door and checked the hallway. When she waved, Ionia followed her. They moved down the hall to the stairway and up to the first floor. McKinnon opened the door to the small guest chamber and let Io in.

Her mother sat in the chair by the fireplace. She was awake.

Io stepped closer and the door closed. Her mother's eyes followed her. Io sank down to her knees beside her, so her mother wouldn't have to strain her neck looking up. Gingerly, she took one of the bony hands in her mother's lap and placed it between her own palms. The hand was freezing cold, so she started rubbing it softly.

"Hi Mom," she whispered. "I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner."

Io planted a soft kiss on her mother's hand.

"You know they keep me real busy at school, just now I had to write this tedious essay on the goblin uprising..."

Once Io had started talking all the new experiences, all the things she had learned and the countless times she had failed in the past weeks, all the good things and the bad began pouring out of her. She was just telling her about the book Wenlock had lent her, when she realized her mother had fallen asleep. Io stopped short.

Of course. Her mother wasn't there, not really. This was all bloody pointless. Had she even recognized her? Had she heard a word Io said?

In a sudden surge of anger, she got up. The familiar burn was there, chiding her. This time Io welcomed it. Maybe it was just easier to be angry. She turned toward the door.

"Ori...", a familiar raspy voice whispered.

Io felt as though someone had knocked all air out of her lungs. She was stuck right there, unable to move, both wanting to go back and forward at once. Her skin burned furiously. And then she realized it. As much as she longed to turn around, she couldn't. Orphne and her mother had both become an echo of what might have been and never will be. That name wasn't hers anymore. That woman wasn't _her_ mother.

Io took a breath and left. She just wanted to go home, wherever that was. She hurried down the stairs and heard the sound of hushed voices. As if she cared what the hell they were up to... But then Io stopped short despite herself; someone had just mentioned her name. That in itself wasn't too surprising - certainly McKinnon enjoyed talking _about_ her, it was the steely tone of voice that had intrigued her. Io silently moved down the hall, edging closer.

It was McKinnon talking to someone, a man. Aberforth, Io guessed. He was hardly more talkative than the Auror, so she wasn't sure.

They appeared to have a heated argument.

"You can't lock someone up like that. If anyone should know that, it's him. I can't believe you're going along with this..." the man accused.

"He's got his reasons."

The male voice let out a miserable laugh.

"Of course! Never mind free choice. Be a good little soldier, eh? You mark my words, this will all go to hell and you'll only have yourself to blame."

"Desperate times..."

McKinnon sighed wearily.

"Anyway, she's raising enough hell, as it is, Abe. Hardly the mark of maturity."

Sod you, McKinnon. Whatever it is you're not telling me...

"There's of course the other matter."

Silence. When Aberforth answered there was a warning in his voice.

"She's as safe here as anywhere and you know it."

So... they were talking about … _the old lady_ _upstairs_? Io felt a pang of guilt for calling her that.

McKinnon snorted. She obviously disagreed with him.

"It would kill her," he stated matter-of-factly. What would?

"She's hardly alive now."

He grunted.

"At least Albus has _some_ sense..."

So was this how it was going to be forever? Someone deciding what was good for her, them?

Sod this.

She stepped forward.

"Mind telling me how you're going to get us killed?"

The Auror and the old gruff man turned toward her. McKinnon schooled her face into an indifferent mask.

"I beg your pardon?"

McKinnon looked over to Aberforth, who gave a non-committal grunt.

"Right," Io shook her head. They were the adults; she was the child. Who would ever believe her? "Right." Lock me up and lose the key, will you?

Io raised her head. Well, no more. She took out her wand.

See how you like this-

Then everything went dark.

* * *

Io's eyes flew open. She turned her head, trying to get away from the pungent smell. It took her a couple of seconds until she realized she was in Slughorn's office.

The rotund Professor held a little flask in his hand that appeared to be the source of the smell. He put a tiny cork stopper in it and gave her a friendly smile.

"You're in my office, Miss Rivers."

Io had to suppress an urge to roll her eyes. She knew _that_. The real question was-

"Ouch." Her head ached.

"Take it easy, now."

She screwed up her eyes and tried not to move.

"What happened?"

Io tried to remember, but it was all in a haze. She'd gone to visit… the Hog's Head, hadn't she? But why?

"You fainted." That was McKinnon's voice.

"Oh."

She opened her eyes again. Slughorn was measuring her state doubtfully.

"The feast is in two hours. How about you go lie down until then? Can you get up?"

Io opened her eyes and carefully moved her head.

"I guess."

She felt utterly confused so she focused on the simple task of getting up and taking one step at a time. Then she left the office and before she'd realized it, her feet had carried her upstairs. She passed the Great Hall.

Fresh air. Somehow that was the only coherent thought Io could come up with.

The moment she stepped outside and the cold autumn air hit her, it was an incredible relief. She breathed in deeply and moved forward. A short stroll around the Hogwarts grounds wouldn't hurt.

What had the Professor said? Io tried to recall their conversation. Two hours?

She wandered downhill, instinctively drawing ever closer to the Great Lake. The water looked dark and menacing in the evening light. But something about it seemed to pull her forward. Only when she was close enough to step into the water, Io noticed what was going on and stopped herself.

What the...? She didn't even know how to swim!

Io felt a sudden longing to stretch out her hand and touch the surface of the water.

That couldn't hurt though, could it?

Her hand drew closer to the smooth surface. Just as she was about to touch it she felt a deep pulse coming from the bottom of the lake.

Io jumped back in panic and toppled over. Panting, she scanned the water for movement.

Nothing happened.

* * *

When Io sat down to dinner she still felt shaky and didn't even notice the exuberant decoration and the piles of festive food. This had been one weird day. Io promised herself that from now on she would just stay away from the lake and eat properly.

I can't walk around fainting like a fine damsel in distress now, can I?

Too distraught to check what the others were eating, she grabbed whatever was nearest. Beef stew. Well, alright. At least her headache was gone. She felt the reassuring weight of Wenlock's book in her bag. She would just eat quickly, go back to her dorm and read for the rest of the night with her curtains drawn.

Io took two bites of her food. Then she sensed it. A sudden surge of heat rushed through her body and she felt sick to her stomach.

Oh, come on.

Io doubled over in pain and cried out. The students next to her jumped up in alarm. Puss-filled blisters were rapidly growing all over her body and angrily expanding in size. She could hear the first one pop and the cries of disgust nearby. On her chest and back, at all the spots where the runes were cut into her skin, the blisters weren't growing however. Instead her skin started to boil underneath.

Io gagged, she could almost hear it sizzle. Then the familiar ringing in her ears drowned out all other sounds.

No! That wasn't supposed to happen anymore.

Io tried to get up. She had to get out before the white haze would drive her insane. She had to- But all it took were two steps before it got too excruciating to move, the blisters on her thighs rubbed together and popped painfully, the heat surrounding her chest rose to a point where she felt as though she was burning alive.

Was she screaming? She could sense movement around her, blurry faces melting before her eyes. Had she fallen down? Somehow everything appeared the wrong side up.

Before Io passed out, she could have sworn she saw Potter's pale face in front of her.

What a nice finish to a crappy day.

* * *

 **hey there! First of all a shout out to my beta reader MissMooToYou - thank you for your support! All the remaining errors are my own. A dear welcome to the new subscribers and thank you for the reviews and messages, they are highly appreciated and keep me going. I am currently writing a lot for my day job so I won't be able to update as often as I would like to. But I promise there's a lot more to come :)**


	7. Chapter 6

**Recap: Orphne Ephydria Avery came to Hogwarts under mysterious circumstances that required her to change her name to Ionia Rivers and get protective spells etched into her skin. Soon enough she found herself in the midst of an escalating prank war with the Gryffindors that got her a month's worth of detention and ultimately landed her in the hospital wing. **

* * *

**Chapter 6**

When Io woke up she couldn't see.

It took her sluggish mind a while to process the things her other senses were telling her. The first thing she felt was a heavy pressure on her chest. The second thing was a burning sensation just about everywhere.

She tried to move her arms. Io gasped. That hurt. Oh. She noticed the bandages.

 _Oh_. She wasn't blind, she was just wrapped in bandages from head to toe.

 _Wait, what?!_

Io tried very hard to remember what had happened. At first all that she could think of was her chest burning, then images began flooding her mind. Hell, she had actually managed to faint twice in one day. Those nasty little Gryffinprats... she should have known they would wait for the feast to do this to her.

"See? She'll be alright. Can we go now?" someone whispered close by.

"Damn…" someone else gasped. Io was certain that was an accurate description of what she must look like. She was also fairly sure she knew who those voices belonged to. How had they managed to snuck in here?

"I think we've got to tell-" the second voice whispered. Must be Potter, Io guessed.

"Are you out of your mind?" the first hissed. Sirius, she decided.

"It wasn't supposed to do that... What if they can't figure out what's wrong?"

Sirius snorted. "Remind me to never accept a potion from you." A rustling sound. "Ouch!"

"Oh, shut up."

Io heard a door open.

"Someone's coming." More rustling. "Shut _up_!"

Someone was walking towards them.

Io felt a cool hand touching her pulse. She hissed in pain.

"There, there." The woman's voice was friendly, in a professional detached kind of way. Must be the nurse. "Can you lift your head a little?"

Before Io could even try, a hand on her neck helped her up and a glass touched her lips. She greedily drank down the liquid, even though swallowing hurt, a lot. A numbing sensation started spreading from her tongue through her body. Before her head even touched the pillow, Io was asleep again.

* * *

The next time Io woke up, she noticed a glaring light. Someone had taken off the bandages that had covered her eyes. The sun was pretty high up in the sky. Past noon, Io concluded.

"How are we feeling today? Better?" Io looked up into the face of a young woman, that was hovering over her. The nurse... what was her name? Pomfrey? When she couldn't find her voice, Io nodded hesitantly. The movement wasn't as painful as she had anticipated.

The nurse gave her a friendly smile.

"You've got a visitor. Are you feeling up to it?"

Io frowned. She really didn't feel like dealing with her house teacher now, or even worse McKinnon. Madam Pomfrey must have taken Io's silence as consent though, because she stepped away and let her visitor in. It was Remus Lupin.

"Hi," he said quietly.

He stepped closer, clearly hesitating. She noticed him scanning her injuries and suddenly got very annoyed. Figures they would come to gloat, she thought. For some reason she hadn't expected it from Remus, though. When he caught himself, he instantly looked down, abashed.

"Erm... I brought your transfiguration homework." Huh? Io screwed up her face. But... wasn't it still Sunday? She tried to remember her schedule. How long had she been asleep?

He put a scroll and a few books down on the table next to her bed.

"Thanks." Her voice was hoarse. She tried to clear it. "Not like it's going to do me any good."

Remus rose his brows in confusion.

"Oh come on, you know I'm terrible," Io stated matter-of-factly.

A faint smile showed on his face. "No arguing there. I also got your book. It- fell down when..."

Io looked over at the pile of books. Rowan Vanderlaan sat on top.

"Oh. Thanks." This time she meant it. She reached for it and although it still hurt a little to move her arms, Io felt relieved when she held _Golden Fleece_ in her hands. Her fingers absentmindedly stroked the thick leather cover with the embossed title in gothic font. Io felt a little silly for getting so attached to a book that wasn't even hers.

Remus seemed very uncomfortable. He took a deep breath.

"I am very sorry. I knew they were going to do it- I mean, I didn't know exactly what, but I didn't ask either and I could have stopped them. I don't even know why I..."

Io looked up in surprise. Remus certainly _looked_ sorry. She mulled that over for a moment and finally just shrugged.

"That's okay. I kinda had it coming."

Remus stared at her blankly, "You almost died."

She shrugged again. Remus blinked.

"I get it now."

"What?"

"Why this got out of hand so quickly. Sirius and you are very much alike."

Io frowned at that distasteful notion. Then a thought crossed her mind and she burst into laughter.

"Please let me see his face when you tell him that."

Remus joined in her laughter. That surely would be a sight for the gods.

* * *

Although Io already felt a lot better, Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping her for a few more days in the hospital wing. She had finished Wenlock's book the very first day and after re-reading it a second time, Io got so bored she actually started studying for her other subjects.

Without all the distractions, the pranks and detention, she was slowly catching up on the material. As it turned out, also, Remus was a great tutor. After his first visit, they had struck up something akin to friendship. The third day, Io even lent him Wenlock's book - although only after he had sworn to protect it with his life and not let it get near any of his grubby Gryffindor friends.

He was smart and Io respected that, although she got really frustrated with his over the top humility at times. She often wondered how on earth he'd become friends with Prince Sirius and his pesky entourage, but she never did so out loud.

Her house teacher had finally come to investigate, but she told him she had no idea who had done this. As much as she wanted Potter and his smug boyfriend to clean bedpans for the rest of the year, that simply wasn't her style. If and when she got back at them, it would be her doing, not some lame detention.

She also got a visit from her roommates. The girls had shown up with sweets and plans for revenge. Elaine and Ethelyn plotted ways to make sure Potter and Black got expelled. Cadi promised to crush them in next Saturday's match. Abby went into a detailed description of how she would castrate Black and feed his bits to Potter. But Io figured she was okay with calling it a truce. For now.

As much as she enjoyed their company, she realized she mostly looked forward to spending time with Remus. That was only because they shared a fascination for magical artefacts, of course. Well maybe, it was more than that. Io couldn't shake the feeling her roommates' friendliness wasn't as reliable as she might have hoped before. She clearly remembered how dismissive they had been of her - very real - fears of getting poisoned.

Lying in bed, trying not to scratch the itchy skin under the bandages she wondered about how all of this would play out. Hogwarts was a strange place. She wasn't supposed to befriend someone from another house, although many students did and no one ever made a fuss. Wasn't Severus' girlfriend also a Gryffindor?

Perhaps it was because she was new and all the alliances and enmities had been established for years. But hopefully things would get back to normal now, whatever that meant. If she applied herself a little more and stayed out of trouble, she might even enjoy it here.

Still... it wasn't just her skin that kept irritating Io. For some reason she felt as though she had forgotten to do something very important. But the more she tried to remember the further it slipped away from her until she got a headache and let it go.

* * *

Finally, after four days Madam Pomfrey released her into the wild. They'd had a lengthy argument about the bandages first though. Io would not let herself be seen in that getup. She may not have known much about student life, but enough to not incite anyone to calling her 'the mummy'. In the end they settled on keeping just the bandages around her torso until all the skin around the runes had healed.

It was Thursday evening after dinner. The Great Hall wasn't yet deserted when Io made her way down to the dungeons. She passed a group of tiny Hufflepuffs who stopped and stared at her.

That's right. She wasn't just the new girl now, but the new girl with the puss-filled blisters. Great.

She hunched her shoulders and sped forward. There would be enough time to deal with annoying students in the morning - and probably for the rest of her student years. Io growled. _Potter_. He better watch out.

Before long she entered the dungeon. Most students of her house were still lounging in the comfortable sofas and chairs around the fireplace, revising homework or playing chess.

"There you are!" Cadi walked up to her and slung an arm around her shoulder, announcing to the room in a most pompous manner, "The fallen one has returned." Quickly they were surrounded by friendly faces inquiring about what had happened and wanting to see her battle scars.

"No, it's alright," she pulled up a sleeve of her sweater and showed her skin, "Madame Pomfrey fixed me up real quick."

"We'll get back at them," Wilkes let her know.

"Yeah, I've got my bludger set on the Black kid," a sixth year student named Mulciber announced with an evil grin. He playfully punched a young boy nearby. "Not _you_." The boy had familiar jet black hair and grey eyes. Io wondered whether the boy was in any way related to her favourite enemy.

"You can come to the game, right?" Cadi asked worriedly.

"Sure. Yeah." She felt a bit overwhelmed with all the attention.

"Come sit with us."

She spent the rest of the evening surrounded by students she hadn't really talked to before. There was Cadi of course, Mulciber the Quidditch Beater and his friends Rosier, Wilkes and some other sixth years she didn't know the names of. Severus joined them. Later Elaine showed up and a girl named Acantha.

Acantha _Parkinson,_ as it turned out, appeared to be a pretty conceited little witch at first sight, but was in fact rather nice when you talked to her. She wanted to know everything about Greece and what it was like growing up there. Unfortunately, Io hadn't much to tell that would be remotely interesting.

"I spent some time there with an aunt of mine, just south of Kalamata. Do you know the region?" Acantha raved.

Io shook her head. She had never even been further south than Thessaloniki.

"It is absolutely lovely. Oh and those beautiful white Abraxans they have there! Is it true they make wands out of Abraxan feathers?"

"Oh. Yes. Actually, I-"

"Avery," Mulciber shouted right next to her. Io flinched in shock. She had no idea why.

"What?" the bloke called Avery replied from the far side of the room. He had short brown hair and a very pale face. Io's eyes turned on him and stuck there.

"You still working on that essay?"

Avery looked very annoyed.

"You mean you've got one?" Acantha exclaimed in excitement next to her.

Io lost track of the conversation, for some reason... that feeling of unease returned. Had they met before or...? She tried to place the Avery boy, but couldn't figure out where.

"Io?"

"Huh?" she looked up to meet Acantha's eyes.

"Your wand core is Abraxan?"

"Oh. Yeah," she shook her head as to get rid of her unease and took out her wand to show it to Acantha.

"Wow. White Abraxan?" Io nodded with a smile and felt a little proud. The white winged horses were only native to Greece and very few wandmakers managed to get a hold of their feathers.

"That's so rare! Is that Oak?"

"Cedar."

Meanwhile Avery had gone back to working on his essay. Io couldn't help but glance over every once in a while. Something about him bothered her. She searched her mind, for some reason she was certain she had heard that name before. But where?

Soon enough she gave up and excused herself to go to sleep. When she walked up to their room, she heard Abby's voice through the crack in the door.

"...don't even know what they see in her. It's not like she's pretty."

"Yeah. It's just because of _Sirius,_ " Ethelyn jeered.

"As if he would look twice at her if she wasn't the _new girl..."_

Io took a few steps backwards. She decided she was too tired for all of this. Then she straightened her back, noisily stepped up to the door and opened it. Abby turned around and gave her a warm smile.

"There you are... We thought you'd spend another night in the hospital wing."

* * *

This night Io couldn't find rest easily. Long after the other girls had gone to sleep, she still lay awake and peered through the window out into the lake. Her feelings of unease wouldn't go away. The entrancing movement of the flowers didn't help much, they rather aggravated her restlessness.

Must be the full moon, Io figured and turned around to find some sleep.

In the far distance a young wolf howled.

* * *

 **Notes: Well. Unlike I said this one didn't take long after all. Hope you guys enjoyed it! My brilliant beta reader MissMooToYou suggested I include a short recap at the beginning of each chapter, so I think I'll do that from now on. **


	8. Chapter 7

**Recap:** **Orphne Ephydria Avery came to Hogwarts under mysterious circumstances that required her to change her name to Ionia Rivers and get protective spells etched into her skin. Ever since a dubious visit to the Hog's Head and a subsequent prank gone horribly wrong she's been having a hard time remembering things. On the bright side she has managed to strike up a tentative friendship with Remus, bonding over their shared fascination for arcane artefacts.**

 **Chapter 7**

 _It was just before dawn. The deep blue of the lake lay flat before her, the brightest stars had not faded yet. Io shivered in the early morning chill. She looked down and realized her feet were bare and she was only wearing a thin night gown. But Io didn't care. This was her happy place._

" _Ori!"_

 _Io froze. She was sure someone had called her, although she couldn't make sense of the word. She turned around and saw a man standing right outside a little stone hut. He was angry. Before she knew what she was doing, Io hurried towards him._

" _What have I told you about wandering off like that?" At a second glance, she realized he was worried. He was a handsome man in his forties who had the distinct look of someone whose life had brought him down. His face bore a stern expression, but his eyes told another story._

" _Sorry, Dad." Was that her voice? She sounded so young._

 _The inside of the hut was blurry. She closed her eyes and opened them again, but her sight wouldn't clear. She turned towards him._

" _Your -o-h-er -rried-ss- -ick," she couldn't make out his words and stared up at him in confusion. Somehow he expected her to make sense of that. "-ve -t-ld you a dozen times to stay away from the water."_

 _She couldn't reply. All of a sudden Io was certain there was someone else in the room. She had to see them, desperately. But when she turned around, the room turned with her, always landing her back with the man with the stern face. She had to see what- But the blur got worse until the room started to turn on its own. She panicked. Heat started rising from her chest and she cried out in pain._

"Mom!"

Her own yell woke her. Io jolted up in her bed with a feeling of utter dread shaking her to the bone. She tried to catch her breath and suddenly realized she was drenched in sweat.

What the- Night terrors? Merlin, she wasn't a little kid! Io groaned in embarrassment and suddenly it hit her: she shared that room.

Oh sweet Circe, please don't let anyone have heard!

Io peeked through the curtains of her bed and found the other girls still sound asleep. Relief washed over her. What had just…? She tried to remember the images from her dream, but they slowly faded away. A hut. A lake. A man. And then... nothing.

Io looked out the window. It was still early, but she was now wide awake, so she got up. Her chest ached and she rubbed at it, which only made it worse. She would have to see Madam Pomfrey today. Maybe if she went now, she could squeeze in a study session at noon. All of a sudden her stomach growled angrily.

Io sighed. Early breakfast it was.

* * *

Breakfast wasn't as bad as she had feared. Hardly anyone paid attention to her, recent history of puss-filled blisters or not. That kind of thing did happen a lot, she wagered, remembering the day Abby had threatened Black's life and no one had bat an eye.

Io had expected Black and Potter to gloat over their accomplishment at the least, but they didn't look her way once. She eyed them suspiciously; they were obviously up to something. Remus was nowhere to be seen.

When she arrived at their Transfiguration class, she noticed that Remus' seat was empty and Black, Potter and Pettigrew were huddled together, whispering. She warily sat down and Sirius straightened up immediately, turning toward the front of the class, where McGonagall was still preparing their lesson. Apparently they were still not done with the cups.

She wondered whether Remus would still turn up. Maybe he had just overslept. Cadi had told her he was sick a lot though, hadn't she?

"Where's Remus?" she finally asked Sirius.

He just shrugged dismissively. She rolled her eyes. _Prick._

"Is he sick again?"

He turned towards her with a bored expression, as if they'd had the same discussion a million times.

"What's it to you?"

"He's still got my book."

Obviously Sirius couldn't care less. He turned away and got out his quill.

"Like that's gonna help you."

Io put as much of her undying loathing for him as she could muster into the look she cast him, but Sirius didn't even look up. She turned away, annoyed.

That's what you get for talking to idiots.

The day crept onward sluggishly. Transfiguration was terrible as always. Arithmancy wasn't half bad. Defence was the same old useless routine.

Instead of lunch, Io hurried up the stairs to the hospital wing. The bandages around her torso were itching like hell and she'd rather starve than take one more minute of it.

When she entered she saw Remus on a bed at the far end surrounded by his friends. Sirius had sat down next to him and Potter was telling them what sounded like a 'hilarious' story. Pettigrew looked up to him adoringly as if he had just come up with Gamp's Law or something. Probably just went and poisoned someone new, Io thought gloomily as Madam Pomfrey steered her toward an empty stretcher and drew the curtains around it.

She could hear the laughter erupt from the other end of the room. Io only half listened while Madam Pomfrey chided her for scratching her scabs. She suddenly felt very stupid. Of course. Remus wasn't her _friend;_ he'd paid her sympathy visits out of a guilt for something his stupid pals had done. How very _noble_ of him.

Wrapped up tightly in a new set of bandages and armed with a jar of ointment, Madam Pomfrey let her get up. Io hesitated, then took a few steps toward Remus and his visitors. She cleared her voice. They looked at her, as if she was about to spoil their fun. Maybe she was. She zoomed in on Remus. He looked tired and very pale.

"I want my book!" Io demanded with an icier voice than she had meant to.

"Oh," Remus wavered, "It's in the dorm. I'll... get it to you once I get out of here."

Io nodded curtly and turned around. When she was almost out of the door, she heard the laughter.

"Figures you'd have a Slythertit _moon_ over you..." Sirius crooned.

Io flinched and quickly darted away, before she'd turn around and do something very, very regrettable.

* * *

As craptacular as that day had already been, Io should have known by experience that more was to come. The sense of gloom had not left her during Herbology, although they at least had that class with the Hufflepuffs so she was safe from her own violent impulses toward a certain gang of four.

Io walked silently beside Cadi down to the edge of the forbidden forest, where Professor Kettleburn expected them. She was grateful that Cadi was someone who didn't need constant chatter to be happy, since Io didn't feel like talking at all.

From a distance she noticed the big ugly beasts at the far end of an enclosed area behind the Professor. He was standing next to the huge bearded gamekeeper, who put down a wooden barrel between them.

As they drew nearer Io found the beasts looked somewhat like winged horses. That is, if horses had mated with reptiles and given birth to a big black four-legged bat without an ounce of fat on its body.

No one else appeared to be disturbed by the monstrous creatures in front of them. Io glanced around, irritated, only skimming over Potter and Black who stood nearby and found something very amusing. Probably something to do with Severus, Io figured. Then she noticed that Serena Rowle, one of the Gryffindor girls had stuck behind and stared at the bat-horses with wide eyes from afar.

"What's wrong?" a girl with fiery red hair asked Serena. _Lily,_ Io remembered. She was one of those annoyingly perfect students, almost Ravenclawish. Serena just shook her head for an answer and stared on.

"Professor Kettleburn?" Lily turned toward the Professor, who was taking big lumps of raw meat out of the barrel the gigantic gamekeeper had just supplied him with.

"Thank you, Hagrid." The Professor said to the bearded man and turned to the class, exclaiming merrily, "Gather round now!". Then all of a sudden he let out an inhuman shriek and more than one student flinched in surprise. Hagrid chuckled.

Kettleburn slung a few lumps of meat toward the beasts that were drawing nearer to taste it. Io examined their faces. There was something distinctly dragon-like about them that she couldn't simply dismiss as ugly. Their blank white eyes were terrifying though.

There was an impatient buzz all around her, people were getting on their toes to peer over the heads of their classmates. Professor Kettleburn reached out towards one of the beasts and patted its nose.

"That's a good boy..."

Not the expression that I would use, Io thought. The bat-horses appeared to be tame though, so that was a relief. Io still remembered the sharp little teeth of the Porlocks vividly.

"Now, who here can see them?" He looked around the class expectantly and was confronted with a myriad of confused faces. Serena nervously put a hand up and so did Io. "Alright, then come up to the front you two."

Serena looked about as excited as Io felt, but they still walked up to him. A few more members of the herd were approaching the class now and chugging down bloody batches of meat in the process. Someone yelped in fear. Others were pointing at the spots were the meat was devoured. Kettleburn was oblivious.

"What we have here is my pride and joy! We have the only tame herd in Britain, you know," he beamed at them, as if that made any sense to anyone. "Thestrals."

Most of the students' faces still looked rather nonplussed, but a few gasped in recognition.

"Sweet," Potter commented.

"Who here knows what Thestrals are?"

Io didn't listen to the reply someone gave him, probably Lily, because one of those Thestrals had just started to playfully nip at the sleeve of Io's good robe. Well, not-as-bad robe.

"Stop that!" Io grumbled, but the Thestral appeared to be enjoying himself.

"Tenebrus likes yeh, I can tell." Hagrid the gamekeeper suddenly sounded next to her. She looked up and once again realized how scarily huge he was. But his eyes were kind, she had to admit.

She looked back at Tenebrus the Thestral who was now snuggling up to her shoulder.

"Great," Io muttered sullenly. Since she couldn't get Tenebrus to stop, she gave up all resistance to his cuddling and listened to the Professor instead.

"...is why only those who have seen death can see them. Of course, this has given them a rather dire reputation. Totally unfounded, I tell you."

"Yeah, now that's what I call a death omen," Sirius whispered to his friends. Pettigrew giggled. Not even close to funny, Io noted mentally.

But she was too distracted to really get annoyed by them. What had the Professor said? Only those who have seen death? Images of last night's dream appeared before her mind, but they were all muddled together. She knew the man had been her father. Of course he was, she knew _that_. She also knew that he had passed away. But she couldn't for the life of her remember how it had happened.

Tenebrus gave Io a nudge with his nose and jolted her out of her thoughts. The Thestral rose his head until they were at about the same height and their eyes locked. Io still found Tenebrus' shiny white orbs a bit scary, but now that she was really looking there was a depth to them, maybe even emotion.

"Are yeh a'rright?" Hagrid asked while he patted Tenebrus' bony neck with his big hand.

"Huh?" Io responded eloquently. Why wouldn't she be? Then she noticed her nose was bleeding. "Oh."

She wiped at her nose with her sleeve. So much for her good robe.

"Yeah, I get those all the time." That was a lie. She couldn't remember ever having had a nosebleed. But that was exactly the problem, wasn't it? She couldn't remember.

Hagrid peered down at her doubtfully. Some of the other students were starting to notice her bloody face, the bloodstream just wouldn't let up. She wiped at it angrily.

"Are you alright?" someone whispered next to her. Io groaned in frustration and zoomed in on the girl who had asked. Lily. Of course.

"Stop asking me that," she hissed. Lily's eyes narrowed but she didn't respond otherwise. Very much uneager to give her classmates any more reasons to pester her, she spent the rest of the class petting her new best friend, the skeleton bat-horse Tenebrus.

* * *

Io went straight to her dorm, dinner be damned. The quiet of the lonely room was soothing. It's nothing, she tried to reassure herself. You haven't been sleeping well, that's all.

She did feel really tired. If only she had Wenlock's book here, that would take her mind off of things. But she didn't even have the strength to get upset about the fact that Remus still had it. As she kicked off her boots and socks, she tried to recall her favourite chapters instead.

If she had to choose which magical artefact she desired the most it would probably be Nion's Compass, she pondered, although she wasn't sure if it ever existed. To possess something that would always lead you where you longed to go, instead of where you wanted to go? Most people would find that useless. But to Io it sounded like a guarantee for a life full of extraordinary adventure.

She sat down on the edge of her bed and looked out her window. For some reason the strangely luminescent water of the lake blew away all of her dreams of adventure and fame. Io reached out and touched the glass on impulse. Suddenly an irresistible urge to smash her hand through the shiny surface into the water beyond overcame her. She felt a deep pulse in the palm of her hand and let go immediately.

She looked down at her hand in shock. It was still tingling.

"Io?"

She almost jumped, when she heard Cadi's voice behind her.

"What are you doing?" A bemused Cadi was standing in the doorway, arms crossed.

"Err- going to bed?"

Cadi snorted. "It's not even 6 pm."

"Yeah. You got me there." Io felt way too tired to come up with some witty response, instead she pumped her tingly hand into a fist in the hopes of getting rid of the irksome sensation.

Cadi edged closer and slumped down next to Io. They sat in silence for a moment.

"Is it the Thestral thing?"

Io froze for a second, then she released the breath she had held. Cadi surely thought that she was upset about whoever she had - apparently - seen die. That didn't even begin to cover it, but Io found herself nodding nevertheless. It was just easier that way.

A movement next to her made Io look up. Cadi had gotten up and now tugged at Io's arm.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

Sensing Io's hesitation she added, "Look, I'm not good with that whole heart-to-heart thing, but moping in the dark sure isn't going to help."

Io's mouth fell open in indignation, "I'm not moping."

She got up anyway. An easy grin stretched upon Cadi's face, "Of course not."

Hastily putting on her socks she followed Cadi out of the room, the afternoon gloom slowly lifting from her mind. Moping around, Io huffed. As if.

* * *

 **Notes: hello there :) As always an enormous 'Thank You!' to MissMooToYou for betaing and to you all for following, commenting and cheerleading. I had to split this chapter in two, so the next one should be along in a few days. **


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